In My Dreams
by Mme. Raye
Summary: Daisy's time comes to an end when she is sent back to New York. Betty's true replacement arrives catching the eye of Mason. George learns many things from her and more about herself. First of many parts. [Not a GeorgeMason fic but in George's POV] Enjoy!


Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Like Me although I wish I owned Mason...

_(All in George's view, like the show)_

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I woke up to greet another bland day reaping the souls of the living. Fortunately for me, Daisy had already left to Der Waffle Haus, leaving my apartment empty and even better, quiet. I took my time getting ready and looked around before I left, most of Daisy's things weren't lying haphazardly. Well, maybe she's starting to get the picture I've trying to get through to her. I'm not going to dwell on Daisy. It's a fine morning and I've got the day off to do anything I want...well after I reap a soul. I open the door to Der Waffle Haus and spot Rube immediately. I slide into the booth next to Mason and Roxy immediately noticing a young woman with pitch black hair. 

"Hi." She looks up at me and I'm taken back with her stunning gray eyes. I realize I've never met someone with stone gray eyes like that before. She says nothing and looks down at her hands.

"This is Claire, Betty's true replacement." Rube introduces without looking up from his planner.

"What about Daisy?"

"She's packing as we speak." Rube replies and Mason gave a sad sigh.

"I'm going to miss 'er." Rube then hands out post-its to all of us except Claire.

"Peanut, take Claire along with you. She knows most of ropes but she can watch on the sidelines." Rube orders while pulling out a wad of bills and laying them on the table. I look down at my post-it. The ETD was three hours from now at a roller skating rink near-by. I began walking listening to the clicks of Claire's heels as she follows me.

"So, uh, Claire..." I try to sound friendly and possibly make a friend out of Claire but I just sounded lame.

"I was your age when I gave birth to my daughter." She speaks softly, the first time I heard her speak. I wanted to offer something, a fact about me, like a trade of what we lost when we died. But I couldn't think of anything and everything I thought off was either too insensitive or sounded fake. "She started school this year. I went shopping to buy her a teddy bear and a new outfit. Too bad I never made it home to give it to her. The question that bothers me the most is what will happen to her now?"

"What about her father?" I couldn't help asking.

"That bastard? He can't love her, he couldn't even love me." She turns to me and I am lost in her stone eyes. "He's been cheating on me for three years. He hates me." I had the urge to put my arm around her and tell her that he didn't hate you, he just could never show his true love for you, or some bullshit like that. But I didn't know Claire except that she had a family before she died, I didn't even know how she died.

"You can move in with me, if you want? It's not that much of an place." I offer her, the only thing I could offer her. I think it was pity that made me because I know how it hurts to lose your family.

"That's really sweet of you. I might take you up on that offer."

"What did you do before you die?"

"Other than spend my husband's money?" She asks with a smile. "I was an interior designer." We found a bench to watch the people skate around in circles. I couldn't believe people actually liked skating around in a circle. The redundancy is mind numbing and watching it too long makes you dizzy. Claire says little as we wait for V.A. Fries to reveal themselves.

"Hey Vicky, watch me!" A young teen yells out to another teen. Vicky has brown hair and is wearing bright pink roller skates that match her sweater. The teen that wanted her to watch him looks like her boyfriend, a goofy, lanky boy trying his best to skate without falling, his jerky movements immediately dubbed him a novice. Vicky giggles and skates up to her boyfriend and wraps her arm around his waist to help him skate better.

"Look at them. Could they be less obvious?" A girl scowls in a nearby booth. Normally, I would agree with her but since Vicky is going to die a few seconds, I watch them without any commentary. Vicky's boyfriend skates off the rink and sits in the spot where the scowling girl once was. I scan the skating rink and spot her near the opening of the rink. I sigh and reach out my hand and stroke her arm as she skates by. She gives me a curious look that causes her not to see the ice her friend threw on the rink. Let's just say that I'll be surprised if Vicky's favorite color will still be pink.

"That bitch! She was so jealous I was dating Todd!" Vicky fumed as she tried to skate into her friend to push her down. When nothing happened, Vicky let out an exasperated sigh. I walk Vicky out of the building.

"Well, I'll be off." I wave good-bye to Vicky.

"So I'm dead."

"Yep."

"That sucks."

"Yep."

"I just bought these skates."

"Sorry."

"Oh well, I hope Todd doesn't date her. She's a real bitch to kill me like that. She'll probably treat him bad and cheat on him." That reminds me of Claire. I turn around to look in the glass doors and Claire is still sitting in the same booth drinking from the same fountain soda cup. When I turn back to say something to Vicky, she's gone. I shrug and head back inside. Claire says nothing to me.

"It's pretty easy, just pop their soul before they die. The hard part is figuring out who is on your post it." I tell her but I receive no reply from Claire. "I have to go now, do you want to move in today?"

"I was going to go to the pier but I'll meet you later."

"Ok, bye!" I headed to the house to say good-bye to Daisy. She was nearly done packing with Mason carrying out the luggage to the taxi.

"Oh! Georgia! There you are!" Daisy seemed happier than I thought. "I'm nearly done packing up. Now it's good-bye for us. It's been swell, really it has. I know Claire will take great care of you, she has that motherly instinct."

"Ok." I want to say something back but it was too late. Daisy flew out as quickly as she flew in. Mason stands in the doorway watching the taxi pull away. Daisy stuck her hand out of the window to wave at us. When her cab turns the corner, Claire walks up to the house.

"Hello." I hear Mason gulp loudly. I saw what made Mason gulp. The light reflected off her hair and face so softly that it accentuated her timeless beauty. If I was a male, I would probably gulp to, but I'm not. I'm also not jealous of it either.

"Hey Claire. The room is vacant if you need a place."

"Thank you George, I hope I'm not too much of a burden." Claire gave me a polite smile and Mason moved from the doorway to allow her in.

"It's no problem." I smile at her then Mason clears his throat.

"Claire is it?" Claire nods slowly. "Need any help moving in?"

"Oh, no. I'll be fine."

"You sure." Claire just nods again.

"Well, if you need it, call me. I'll be happy to help." Mason gave her his suave smile. I hope she saw through that.

"George? Do you mind showing me my room? I'm awfully tired and would like to take a nap." I nod and lead her to her room. She walks swiftly to the bed and lies down. I close the door and once it is closed, I can here her weeping through the door.

* * *

I found Rube, Roxy, Mason, and Claire easy enough and I took a seat next to Claire. 

"So, how's life with Claire, peanut?" Rube asks me while the waitress brings our food.

"Fine." I reply. We ate pretty much in silence except for some small talk about weather and non-important things. At the end Rube passes out the post-its.

"Mason, tag along with Claire." He orders while leaving the tip.

"Right." Mason and I look to Claire who is staring at her post-it.

"Claire?" I ask and she looks up at me with lost eyes.

"Huh?" She asks.

"Mason is going to tag along." I sneak a peak at the post-it. "Mine's not too far away, mind if I come too?" I ask.

"Sure." Claire replies squeezing the post-it tightly. Mason and I follow her to the little league baseball park. A game is going on with many people in the stands watching their kids try and be like real athletes. Claire scanned the field and her eyes fell onto a little girl in the adjacent field clutching a battered doll.

"She's over there." Claire pointed.

"Well, how do you know?" I ask.

"Dupree is not on any of the jerseys." Claire started to walk up to the girl. Up close I realize that the girl looked no older than seven. Claire bent over and gave her a warm smile. Mason and I watch from a safe distance where we can hear and watch but not involved in the scene.

"That's a pretty doll."

"My mama gave it to me." The girl held it up to show Claire. "She's dead."

"I bet she misses you very much." I watched Claire and I imagine that's how she was with her own daughter. Soft, gentle, I was angry that she was taken away from her child, she looked like a great mother yet she could no longer be a mother anymore.

"I miss her." The girl admits with a sad voice that didn't belong to a child so young. "Daddy's never home. Nana stays with me but I miss mommy." Claire wiped her cheek, popping her soul.

"Don't worry. You'll be with her soon enough." I look at Claire's face after hearing the strain in her voice. Small tears slid down her cheeks and fell off her chin. Claire stands upright and watches the girl chase after a butterfly. The girl followed the butterfly and didn't notice that she was on the baseball diamond. Just as the butterfly flew behind the umpire, little Johnny hit a pop fly and threw his bat behind him. The girl didn't even see the bat flying at her head and luckily she didn't feel her head being crushed against the fence separating the parents from the game.

"Mommy?" The girl asked Claire. Claire kneeled down and opened her arms to the girl.

"I told you I'm always with you." The girl ran and threw herself in her mother's arms. I gasp in shock. How could Rube give her that appointment? How could she accept it? Why didn't she try and stop it? I couldn't help but watch the exchange between mother and child.

"I knew it." The girl whispers to her mother.

"Now, you're going to go play for a while but when I can, I'm going to be with you. I promise." Claire wraps her pinkie around her daughter's.

"I'll miss you, Mommy!" The girl cries out loudly squeezing Claire tightly. Claire softly strokes the girl's hair.

"I know, I'll miss you too. But now it's your turn to have some fun, I'll be there long before you can miss me." Claire gives her a long kiss on her forehead. The girl turns around and sees a beach house with a long beach behind it.

"It's our beach!" The girl exclaims through her tears.

"Go play." Claire stands back up and watches her daughter run to the beach and splashes into the waves. Mason is behind Claire and I never saw when he moved from my side. He sets a hand on her shoulder. Claire spins around and sobs into his shirt. Mason, in a sweet gesture, wraps his arms around her. I really don't know how she could do it. Maybe the idea that her daughter will never grow up without her mother provided some comfort to Claire. Maybe now Claire had something to look forward to, a chance to be where her daughter is, happily forever. I see clearly that the bond between mother and daughter is a strong one that sometimes I regret that I neglected my own bond with my mother. I'm glad Claire never had to reach the point where that bond was virtually non-existent. Claire seemed so wrapped up in her daughter that to have that kind of heart break would kill her. And I now understand why maybe parts of my mother died. I just hope that Reggie and my mother can share a strong bond, because life is the bonds that tie you together. And maybe if I had stronger ones, I wouldn't feel so dead.

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**A/N**: Well, what do you think? Review please! 


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